Servoflo is pleased to announce the availability of new evaluation kits and a new driver board for the mp6 micropumps. The new Quad Series lets users drive up to 4 pumps simultaneously. This means that a user can design an electronics system using 1 mp6-QuadOEM to drive 4 mp6 pumps. Even more exciting, the new technology lets users increase the pumping rate of the mp6-air to up to 42 ml/min, since frequencies can be increased to 800 Hz as opposed to 300 Hz for the original mp6-oem. Pumping rates for liquids using the mp6 remains at 7 ml/min.

Here is a summary of the new items:

mp6-QuadEVA: This kit comes with the QuadEVA board, 4 pumps, mini USB cable. An air version (mp6-air-QuadEVA) is also available.

mp6-QuadKEY: This evaluation system has a detachable mp6-QuadOEM, and uses Arduino as an interface. An air version (mp6-air-QuadKEY) is also available.

mp6-QuadOEM: New controller can be used by itself for integration into production. Parameters can be changed via I2C.

To help understand the various performance differences between controllers, the 2 charts below describe the pumping performance for water and gas.

To fully understand the different options, we suggest you start by reviewing this tech note, Controller Overview.

Servoflo is pleased to announce the availability of a driver reference design for the mp6 micropump. Written by Microchip, the application note describes the implementation of a basic circuit for driving the mp6 with flow control for a fluid delivery system.

The application note includes a description for a control board, a high voltage driver board, and the mp6 micropump. The control board provides the adjustable voltage and frequency control signals to the high voltage driver board. Then, the high voltage driver board delivers the boosted signals in specific waveform on multiple output channels with adjustable peak-to-peak voltage (VPP) and frequency to the piezoelectric micropump. The demo can supply a maximum of 250V of VPP and a maximum frequency of 300 Hz. A bill of materials is included with the application note.

The mp6 micropump is designed to pump 0-7 ml/min of fluids and up to 18 ml/min of air/gas. Applications include medical devices, drug delivery, call

The Bartels mp6 micropump is a piezoresistive diaphragm micropump targeting flow rates up to 7 millileters per minute (ml/min) for liquids and 18 ml/min for gases with no backpressure and 600 mbar maximum pressure at no flow. Users can adjust the pumping rate by modifying the amplitude and frequency.

To achieve low flow rates, the user should lower the amplitude. The consequence of doing this without a restrictor is that the generated pressure levels are also lowered which may be unsuitable. A minor pressure raise could also cause clogging since the maximum backpressure is too low to overcome. When a restrictor is applied (preferably to the pump exit), the flow rate is reduced by the fluidic resistance. That means with the maximum amplitude and optimal frequency, the flow rate is only as high as the restrictor allows. The pressure generation of the pump is the same as without the restrictor. (see the chart below).

The restrictor can be a short piece of narrow tubing (capillary) for a simple application or a precision orifice with an exact inner dimension. The application note focuses primarily on using capillaries as the user can adjust the flow rate by changing the length. Orifices come in preset dimensions - diameter and length - and it may not be possible to find the correct orifice for a specific flow rate.

Calculating the correct restrictor can be done by treating the pump as an electrical circuit, calculating the internal fluidic resistance of the pump, adding the restrictor as a resistor and applying the law of Hagen-Poiseuille to determine the resistance. The maximum flow rate is dependent on the total resistance of this system. Detailed steps are available in the application notes.

Once the restictor is finally set, it is then possible to vary the flow rate by changing the amplitude from the new restricted max flow to zero. The full range of the amplitude allows smaller flow rate steps with voltage changes than with the unrestricted pump. See the calculation results in the example below based on an mp6 pumping water.

Possible capillary material includes PEEK tubing and polyimide (PI) tubing which is available in a wide variety of diameters and is readily available from many suppliers. PEEK and PI material are resistant to a wide variety of pumping media.

The mp6 micropumps from Bartels Mikrotechnik GmbH are suitable for pumping liquids and gases for a variety of different applications. Here we are highlighting the use of the mp6 in a germ detection device used in hospitals.

Bartels and the Austrian Gesundheits-Cluster Oberösterreich worked together with the project goal being the automation of "Genspeed", a medical system for fast diagnosis of hospital germs of Greiner Bio-One International AG. The newly developed on-spot instant diagnosis device "Genspeed R2" is able to verify the existence of different infectious germs - including, among others, antibiotic-resistant bacteria such as MRSA at the human body - from different samples within 75 minutes.

Technological core elements of the device are a microfluidic-chip and a miniaturized automated dispensing system based on the mp6 micropumps. Different reagents can be disposed with microliter accuracy into the inlet opening of the microfluidic chip. The controlled liquid volumes are precisely applied in the correct succession with testing results shown on a computer screen. This method delivers results much faster than the traditional diagnosis chain of sending a sample to a laboratory. This is a perfect example of the capability of microfluidics in respect to optimization of standard processes, reduction of waiting times - and therefore costs - as well as improving patient treatment response times. This system uses 3 mp6 pumps and 1 mp6-oem controller.

Since the end of 2012, Servoflo has been selling the mp6 micropump, made by Bartels of Germany.

This unique micropump focuses on pumping up to 7 ml/min of water and 18 ml/min of air/gas. Other liquids can also be pumped. Typical applications for the micropump include medical drug delivery, cell culturing applications, fuel cells, consumer, nebulizers and much more.

mp6 micropumpThe functional principle is based on a piezoelectric diaphragm in combination with passive check valves. A piezo ceramic mounted on a coated brass membrane is deformed when voltage is applied. By the resulting down stroke, the medium is being displaced out of the pump chamber below. The check valves on both sides of the pump chamber define the flow direction.

The response to this product has been tremendous, and we are excited about the many new possibilities for this interesting product.

Bartels has release 4 new tech notes to assist customers in their use of the pump:

Amplitude and Frequency Effects on Flow Performance - Based on the diaphragm pump principle, themp6 has a typical flow and pressure performance. By controlling the piezo actuator deflection, the performance can be varied. The amplitude determines the height of the piezo deflection and thereby the displaced volume and the frequency the number of deflections.

Running Multiple mp6 Micropumps - Applications requiring higher flow rates can be done by combining pumps together, in either series for higher backpressure situations (600 mbar for liquid) or in parallel for higher flow rate (about 7 ml/min per pump for water).

Media Compatability of the mp6-pp - The mp6-pp is a polypropylene version of the micropump. This table shows the chemical resistance of the polyproplyene for different media.